


A Crash Course on Sleeping

by spoilerings



Series: Thorbruce Week 2018 [3]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Comfort, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 00:04:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14726163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spoilerings/pseuds/spoilerings
Summary: The bigger problem is Thor. Not that Thor is an inconvenience to Bruce, because he loves Thor’s company, but the poor guy is a mess. He knows that he needs to do something. To help Thor. Because he cares about Thor. His friend. That’s all.





	A Crash Course on Sleeping

**Author's Note:**

> basically just based on this - https://twitter.com/racheljpierce/status/993537559753117696 - and my personal belief that thor is constantly thinking about loki and bruce is just really worried
> 
> edit august 2, 2018: making this a part of thorbruce week as day 3 (comfort)

When everything calms down and both halves of the universe are restored, Bruce knows it’s a problem that Loki still hasn’t showed up. Realistically, he knows how incredibly dramatic the guy is, and he’s heard enough about the deaths Loki has faked that he feels the god’s return is inevitable. He doesn’t even  _ like  _ Loki, really, but Thor seems to trust him, and Thor is a generally moral person, and so Bruce considers Loki a friend. Even after the whole Chitauri thing. (Bruce is a very forgiving person at heart; he’s not quick to decide that someone is of inherently malevolent spirit because of that  _ one  _ time they tried to dominate the entire human race by opening up a wormhole over New York City. People make mistakes, okay? Besides, he and Hulk have seen first-hand how much of a maniac that Thanos guy is, and they both think Loki was probably pressured into the whole thing anyway.)

 

The bigger problem is Thor. Not that Thor is an inconvenience to Bruce, because he loves Thor’s company, but the poor guy is a mess. Almost everyone has been alternating between their homes and the facility because they are all, understandably, not ready to let each other out of their sights for too long. Thor, however, has only twice returned to the new Asgard settlement - apparently trusting that Brunnhilde is capable of ruling an entire nation in his absence. Instead, he spends most of his days working with small, isolated communities around the world, helping them reconstruct their lives and adjust to the world that Earth has become. Korg, as it turns out, is the one who steps up to be protector of the Bifrost, and he is immensely glad to help Thor seek out new places in dire need of help, and then transport him back to New York so he can spend time with his best friends.

 

The problem comes from how Thor acts when he returns. He seems okay, he socializes with whoever’s around, and he wears human apparel and seems to enjoy it. He eats meals, doesn’t drink (he doesn’t really have access to Asgardian liquor anyway), and bathes regularly. The concept of rest seems foreign to him, though. Bruce has never been clear on whether gods need sleep, and he is honestly still clueless. But whether or not Thor is actually missing out on anything necessary for his physical functioning, the guy does not spend nearly enough time relaxing as he should. Every time Bruce sees him, he’s standing by a window deep in thought, pacing around the kitchen, or watching Peter write a research paper or something else equally arbitrary. (Bruce has no clue what Thor could possibly be thinking about for all that time, but he’s guessing it has a  _ lot _ to do with Loki.) He’s also starting to realize that Thor roams the facility in the middle of the night, refusing even to pretend that he’s sleeping. He swears he saw Thor quickly escape his room one time when he woke up at around 2:00 a.m. with an overwhelming need to piss.

 

So, yeah. Bruce is really worried about Thor. He knows that he needs to do something. To help Thor. Because he cares about Thor. His  _ friend _ . That’s all.

 

* * *

 

Bruce decides to bring it up when he’s in his office and Thor is, unsurprisingly, sitting on a chair in front of the window, obviously having found something enthralling to watch in the completely empty field behind the building. “Hey Thor?”

 

This seems to break Thor’s trance, and he turns his chair around to face Bruce. “Hmm?”

 

“Are you doing okay? I know it’s been really hard to adjust, and you’ve been doing so much lately, I just don’t want you to overwork yourself.”

 

“Yes, I’m- I’m alright. I am the God of Thunder, you know. Mighty and all that,” he explains. He seems entirely unconvinced.

 

Bruce smiles a little. “Right, of course. But gods need some time to relax sometimes, too.”

 

Thor doesn’t have a response for this, and he just stares at a spot of dirt on the floor. 

 

“How about we watch a movie? Have you ever seen Toy Story?”

 

By the time the movie is over, Thor is slouched into the couch with his arm draped over the back, and Bruce counts that as a win. 

 

* * *

 

Thor comes back from Nicaragua one day with a limp.

 

A limp, under normal circumstances, is nothing to worry about and poses absolutely no real threat to a person. But Thor doesn’t limp. Bruce has never seen him limp in all of the time he’s known him. Hulk would definitely remember such an occurrence as well, as he is constantly trying to find ways to subtly insult Thor (although he means no real harm by it; he secretly likes the Asgardian doofus despite how puny and annoying he is).

 

At this point, Bruce is very much freaking out. He decides that he has to address it, although he tiptoes a bit because he doesn’t want to give Thor a reason to feel self-conscious. He ends up finding Thor outside in the small garden Bruce had cultivated himself (after he insisted that Tony’s chosen landscaping was severely lacking a personal touch). There’s a butterfly fluttering near the hydrangeas, and if Bruce isn’t mistaken, he’d swear he sees Thor smile a very small smile at it and wiggle his hand in a tiny little wave. Bruce thinks it’s weird, but moves on anyway. “Hey, buddy,” he says, interrupts Thor’s moment with the butterfly. 

 

Thor, though, is clearly not paying attention to his surroundings, and he therefore does not hear Bruce walking over to him or see Bruce approaching in his peripheral vision. So, he jumps.

 

“Oh, sorry, Thor. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

 

Thor smiles one of those pained smiles that Bruce has seen a lot lately, and replies, “It’s alright. What’s up Bruce?”

 

Bruce had been thrilled the first time Thor called him by his first name, and hearing it still occasionally makes his heart skip a beat. “I noticed you were limping earlier. Did something happen today?” He thankfully manages to avoid telling Thor that he  _ never _ limps, and if he’s limping it must be  _ really _ bad, and Bruce is freaking the  _ fuck _ out. 

 

“Ah, yes. I, uhm. Twisted my ankle- Is that the word? Twisted?” 

 

Bruce nods, though he knows Thor is just trying to distract him from the obvious issue. 

 

“Yes, I twisted my ankle hiking up the Mogotón mountain.”

 

Bruce chuckles. “It’s pronounced  _ mogo-tone,  _ not  _ mo-goat-en.” _

 

Thor chuckles a bit in response, and it seems genuine. Bruce is glad. “My mistake.”

 

“So, I don’t know if this would make you uncomfortable, but I’ve been told I give great massages. If you think that could help.”

 

“That sounds incredible.”

 

So that’s how Bruce finds himself, again, on the couch with Thor. Only this time, Thor’s foot is in his lap and he’s wearing soft socks and resting his head on the other arm of the sofa. He doesn’t fall asleep, but his eyes remain closed and his breathing even, so Bruce silently cheers for himself. 

 

* * *

 

When Thor passes out into his Lucky Charms, it’s officially the last straw.

 

It happens out of nowhere, although Bruce realizes afterwards that Thor  _ was _ leaning a bit heavily on his hand, and he  _ was _ uncharacteristically avoiding his food. 

 

“Oh Jesus, Thor!” Bruce stands up, walks (runs) over to where Thor is now unconscious, and shakes Thor’s shoulder a little bit, trying to elicit a response. 

 

Thor immediately picks his head up, face covered in a film of Bruce’s almond milk, a rainbow marshmallow stuck to his forehead. “Mmh, what?”

 

“Did you just fall asleep?”

 

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about.”

 

Bruce rolls his eyes. “Alright, that’s it. Get up,” he orders, and Thor complies. “We’re going to your room you’re never in, to your bed you never use, and you’re going to get the sleep that you clearly desperately need.”

 

“That is absolute nonsense, I don’t need to sleep, I’m-”

 

“The God of Thunder, yeah I know. Save it for another time because I am entirely unconvinced that you can actually survive right now without sleeping.”

 

They reach Thor’s room, and Bruce guides him to the - evidently unused, as he predicted - bed, sitting him down and taking off the boots he’s wearing. Thor just stares at him the whole time. 

 

“What is it going to take for you to actually sleep?” Bruce asks, completely out of patience. Upon seeing Thor’s solemn face, he realizes he’s being a little harsh. “Sorry, Thor. I know there’s a lot on your mind. Is there  _ any _ way I can help you get to sleep, because I think you need it and I’m just… really worried about you, buddy. At this point, I’ll try anything.”

 

Thor seems to consider this for a while, and he makes an odd face when he appears to come up with an idea. Bruce is about 70 percent sure that he sees a bit of deep pink bloom on the bit of Thor’s chest that’s poking through his (awfully flattering) V-neck. “You could… Stay with me? And just… Talk for a while? Loki used to talk a lot when it was just the two of us and… Anyway, that might help.”

 

Bruce’s heart might actually explode. He smiles, though, and says, “Sure. Of course. Why don’t you lie down?” Thor curls up on the left side of the bed, looking about a thousand times more innocent and vulnerable than he should, and Bruce sits on the right, leaning against the headboard. “What should I talk about?”

 

“Um. Something about- what is it, physics? I like to hear Midgardian scientific theories.”

 

“Okay… Well, you know how sound can’t travel through space? I assume you’ve been in deep space before; it seems like something you’d do… Anyway, it’s because space is a vacuum and there’s no matter for the sound waves to travel through. In an atmosphere, it’s different because there’s gas particles flying all around us, so the waves vibrate those until they reach your eardrum… Oh, man, I haven’t thought about such simple concepts in a long time… Really, when I started college I never expected to become a superhero and have to think about nuclear physics and astro-” 

 

Bruce is interrupted by the sound of a very slight snore, and is reasonably surprised when he looks down at Thor and finds he’s already fast asleep. And snoring, clearly. And drooling into the pillow. He would be offended that Thor was apparently so bored of what Bruce had to say that he didn’t care to stay awake, but he knows how exhausted Thor must be. So, he just smiles to himself and reasons that a nap really wouldn’t hurt him with everything going on in his life. As he drifts into semi-consciousness, he declares to himself that he officially wins friendship.

 

* * *

 

When Bruce begins to return to the land of the living, he feels incredibly comfortable. Almost too comfortable, actually, and what the  _ hell _ is that pressure and… warmth around him? It only takes a few more seconds for him to remember.

 

When he does, his eyes shoot open, and he is met with the realization that,  _ yeah _ , because he decided it would be a good idea to get into bed with  _ Thor _ , and because the two were so needy in their sleep, they gravitated toward each other. Which means they are  _ cuddling  _ together. Bruce Banner, cuddling with a deity.

 

His head is smooshed into Thor’s chest, and Thor’s arms are wrapped around his shoulders, and yep, their legs are very much slotted together. When he moves his gaze further up, Bruce expects to see Thor’s lax face and his ruined hair and his long eyelashes. The latter two he does see, but not before he notices that, of course, Thor’s eyes are open and staring right back into Bruce’s.

 

He figures it’s stupid to pretend his heart isn’t racing and his world isn’t vaguely falling apart, so he just continues to make eye contact. “Uh,” he fumbles, “How long were we out?”

 

Thor hardly even blinks as he responds, “It’s been around four hours.” He doesn’t address how long he’s been awake, watching Bruce intently.

 

“Well, all things considered, I’m glad you got that much-”

 

“Bruce, I’d really like to kiss you now.”

 

Bruce is dumbfounded. Somehow he manages an awkward “Uh. Yeah. Yes. Good, uh. Idea.”

 

Thor brings his large hand to the back of Bruce’s neck, still holding him there and mapping Bruce’s face with his gaze. He strokes his thumb across the area right below Bruce’s ear, then pulls him in.

 

It’s just about the best kiss Bruce has ever had in his life. Thor’s fingers work absolute magic into his scalp, and he brings his hand up to caress Thor’s shoulder, and it all tastes like coffee and Lucky Charms and only the barest hint of morning breath. Thor takes things to another level - no, a whole new plane of reality - when he brings out his tongue to Bruce’s lips and moves his hand to Bruce’s thigh, pulling the whole leg up and around his waist. Bruce whines slightly, which makes Thor groan, and they’re about to start seriously grinding against each other when Thor decides to break away.

 

Bruce’s leg is still around his waist, though.

 

“I’ll admit I have been… Thinking about that for quite some time.”

 

Bruce wants to  _ cry _ . “Yeah, uh. Me too.”

 

“Bruce, I am very grateful for everything you’ve done for me.”

 

“Oh, it’s no big deal. And you know, I like helping you.”

 

“That’s good. Because I anticipate I will still be needing some help getting to sleep.”

 

Bruce smiles. “How ever will I do that?”

 

Thor smiles as well. “I can think of a few ways,” he answers, and pulls Bruce into another life-changing kiss.

 

Yeah. So, in hindsight, Bruce supposes Thor’s insomnia wasn’t really that much of an issue after all.


End file.
